Marcus Smart has been named the 2021-22 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, the league announced Monday. On Sunday, Smart, Phoenix Suns Wing Mikal Bridges and Utah Jazz Center Rudy Gobert were named finalists for the award. Smart won a fairly close race, taking home 37 votes for first place. Bridges earned 22, Gobert 12, Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo 13, and Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. 10.
Smart has been one of the catalysts for Boston’s No. 1 defense this season. The Celtics allowed 106.2 points per 100 possessions this season, but since January 1, that number has fallen to 105.2 as Boston adjusted to new coach Ime Udoka. After starting the season 23-24, the Celtics finished 2nd in the Eastern Conference thanks to a 27-7 stretch dictated by their defense.
Smart was the first security guard to receive this award since 1996. Gary Payton, the 1996 winner, was in Boston to break the news to Smart.
Payton had previously endorsed Smart as his choice for winning the award, and Smart has been vocal about his disagreement with voters for not conferring a watch since Payton. Prior to 1996, only four other guards had won the award since its inception in 1983: Michael Jordan, Alvin Robertson, Michael Cooper, and Sidney Moncrief.
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Smart put his superb defense to work Sunday as his Celtics defeated the Brooklyn Nets 115-114 after Jayson Tatum, on whom he assisted, made a last-second layup. With Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant on the other side of the duel, Smart will have to do his best to take Boston out of the first round, but if he and his team play as well as they have so far, they will be in for a run for a much bigger trophy make than the one he just won.